1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ophthalmic apparatus for photographing an eye to be examined in order to use the photographed picture image in examining or analyzing a condition of the eye.
2. Description of Related Art
As for this kind of apparatus, one known example is an apparatus which optically cuts an anterior part of the eye with slit light and photographs a sectional image thereof with a photographing optical system provided in accordance with the Scheimpflug's principle. The photographed picture image is then analyzed to locate an opaque area in the crystalline lens or in the cornea, and also to find out its opacity degree.
The apparatus has a photographing mode for photographing and saving a picture image of the eye and also an analyzing mode for performing a predetermined image analysis of the picture image photographed and saved in the photographing mode. In the photographing mode, an examiner sets a photographing condition such as quantity of illumination slit light and the like, and then photographs the eye. After shifting to the analyzing mode, the examiner enters operation commands such as selecting analysis items, designating a range to be analyzed and the like. In accordance with these operation commands, the apparatus executes a predetermined analysis program thereby to calculate a result.
In order to obtain a highly reliable result through analyzing the photographed picture image obtained in the above-described manner, it is necessary that the photographing condition in the photographing mode such as quantity of light should be suitable so as to meet a predetermined requirement for analysis.
However, whether or not the photographed image satisfies the predetermined requirement for analysis can not be judged until the apparatus goes into the analyzing mode and executes the analysis program thereby to obtain the result. If it turned out that the photographed picture image does not satisfy the predetermined requirement for analysis, the analyzing mode has to be again shifted back to the photographing mode. Thereafter, the photographing condition is adjusted based on the result of analysis in order to start over the photography on the same eye again. This retake procedure requires many operations and time, thus work efficiency thereof is low. In addition, a long duration of time on the retake procedure imposes heavy burden on the examinee.
Furthermore, when dealing with a great number of examinees, it is usually the case that the photography on each examinee is carried out first and then the photographed picture images saved upon photographing are later analyzed all together. However, it is inconvenient not to find out whether retake is necessary until the analysis is done.